Page 69 of Almost Perfect
Maybe she’ll get snowed in here. Wouldn’t be the worst thing to ever happen.Yeah. My mind was nowhere near work tonight.
“Hmm, yeah. I imagine that’s crazy with livestock. I didn’t really think about getting extra wood or anything. Maybe I should run over and—”
“I loaded some onto your porch earlier, and we’ve got plenty to share. Worst case, you come here. We’ve got a generator if the grid fails and we lose power.”
I forbid myself the thought of having her spend the night here. That could absolutely get confusing, and I didn’t want that to happen because of a storm. I wanted it to happen because she couldn’t imaginenotspending the night.
She inhaled deeply, and her nerves registered just as she spoke. “Sorry. I’m not used to weather like this. LA’s pretty placid.”
“All except fire season and earthquakes.”
She tilted her head to the side, acquiescing. “Yeah.”
“And crazy heat indexes and water shortages.”
Her lips pressed together to stay a smile. “Not always a problem.”
“And crazy paparazzi and kooky celebrities.”
“Ah, nowthoseare the real menace to LA society, no doubt.”
I set my fork and knife to the side of my plate, then leaned back in my chair. Casual delivery was essential for this, so I gave her a half smile, then said, “Guess it’s time to think about moving.”
TWENTY-NINE
Calla
“Maybe so,” I said, not at all joking.
His smile dropped. “Really? Are you considering moving?”
I stretched my hands high above my head, then stood and took both of our plates. He leapt from his chair and grabbed the rest of the items on the table as I spoke.
“I’m over the whole life-crashing-and-burning-on-the-front-page thing. I wanted an escape, so I came here. Now that I’m here, it only cements what I set out to prove.”
“What’s that?”
I flipped on the tap to rinse the dishes, knowing he wouldn’t want to leave them in the sink like I did. “I don’t want to go back.”
His gaze on me pierced through any calm façade I’d managed to put up tonight. When he didn’t speak, I faced him.
“I’m serious. I’m done. Today was confirmation that I could have the kind of life I’ve never thought would be in the cards for me—real friendships.”
Real love.
Waaaaaaaaiiiiiiitttt.What?I was not in love with this man, nor had love ever been an aspiration of mine. If it had been, I would’ve gotten it and been subsequently punished for doing so, just like Candy had been.
She fell in love with every man she dated for more than a half second, and she dated a lot. Powerful, smart, well-positioned men. And they all crapped on her.
One even introduced her to pills to“take the edge off,” which ultimately worked so well that they took every possible edge off, including her life.
“That’s amazing. But can you do that? Just walk away?”
He’d moved to stand by me, his strong form not quite touching mine, but close. I occupied myself with placing the dishes in the washer before answering. When I did, I made a point not to lie—to him, or me.
“Probably not. But I’m going to try.”
* * *
